NASA flag-bearer Raila Odinga (R) with Machakos governor Alfred Mutua at the funeral of Governor Nderitu Gachagua in Nyeri. [PHOTO/the-star.co.ke]
It is the right time Central Kenya and the wider Kikuyu community supported Raila Odinga's bid for presidency.
This is according to Distinguished Professor at SUNY Buffalo Law School and Chair of the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) Makau Mutua.
In his opinion with the Standard, the don argues that since the Agikuyu are the dominant ethnic group in the country, their active role in stamping out tribalism would see other communities follow suit, and that voting Raila was the heaviest show of intent in the fight against the vice.
Mutua also argues that Raila "embodies the collective national symbol of political exclusion by the dominant House of Mumbi. His father, the late opposition doyen – Jaramogi Oginga Odinga – lives in Raila."
The lawyer also argues that the Odinga family has sacrificed a lot for Central Kenya and it is now time the region appreciated by 'returning the hand'.
Mutua said that it is only this decision by the House of Mumbi that will help liberate Kenyans from the bondage of negative ethnicity in the country.
He alluded to the historical case where Raila's father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga refused to take Premiership of the country after the British offered him the slot, and said that the imperial government had to first release Mzee Jomo Kenyatta from prison.
Kenyatta was to later detain Oginga in a show of 'betrayal', something Mutua says can be softened if the Mount Kenya region supports Odinga's son in the August elections.